The Dayton Playhouse is pleased to announce auditions for the comedy-drama Proposals to be held on Monday and Tuesday, September 19 & 20, 2016. Auditions will be at 7 pm each evening at the Dayton Playhouse, 1301 E. Siebenthaler Ave, Dayton, Ohio 45414. The director of this production will be Jim Lockwood. The play is written by Neil Simon. Performances will be November 4 through 13, 2016.
Proposals, which is Neil Simon’s 30th play, takes us back to 1953 with the Hines family, in the yard of their modest Poconos cottage. Family may be a misnomer; businessman Burt Hines and his wife, Annie, are divorced and Annie has remarried. Their daughter, Josie, is still resentful of the time Burt spent building his business, and not paying attention to her. The African-American caretaker of the cottage, Clemma, literally takes better care of the family than they take of themselves.
Of course, Clemma has her own tragedy, having been left by her man, Lewis, seven years before. It now appears that Lewis is headed back to the cottage to try to make up for lost time. Burt’s daughter Josie has just broken her engagement to Ken, an intense Harvard law student, and she yearns for his buddy, Ray, an aspiring writer with whom she had a brief affair. Ray shows up with a striking but dim-witted model on his arm, and Vinnie, a young Miami gangster adds a note of hilarity to the gathering.
The director will be seeking to fill the following roles:
Clemma Diggins mid 40s African-American. She is the story’s narrator, maid and caretaker of Hines family.
Burt Hines mid-50s, a heart attack survivor, a successful businessman, and a failed family man, his wife Annie has divorced him and remarried.
Josie Hines Burt and Annie’s early 20s daughter; dumps her fiancé at the beginning of the play; worries she may be becoming her mother; her dad.
Ken Norman Mid-20s Harvard law student, Josie’s recently dumped fiancé.
Ray Dolenz mid-20s, acting golf pro, an unpublished author, and Josie’s former boyfriend.
Annie Robbins Late 40s, but still trim. Burt’s former wife, now remarried.
Vinnie Bavasi Josie’s young mob-connected friend and would-be suitor from Miami. He has a language all his own.
Sammii Early 20s, Ray’s girlfriend, model-like beauty, not too bright.
Lewis Barnett early 50s African-American, Clemma’s man who left seven years ago, and has returned intent on re-establishing the relationship; now blind in one eye, with one crippled hand.
Auditions will consist of readings form the script. If possible, bring a resume and definitely be prepared to list all conflicts between September 19 and November 13. For further information contact Jim Lockwood at [email protected].
The Dayton Playhouse is located at 1301 E. Siebenthaler Ave, Dayton, OH 45414. For additional information regarding the Dayton Playhouse visit www.daytonplayhouse.com. The Dayton Playhouse is a community theatre providing outstanding theatrical productions to Miami Valley audiences of all ages for more than fifty years. The Playhouse is nationally recognized for FutureFest, an annual festival of new plays.
